Monday, November 11, 2013

Saturday, November 9, 2013

I previously described the building housing the Culinary Institute of Red River College, and although I said that the food wasn't my main interest, the nine of us did enjoy it very much.
Because of our family connection with India in the late 1800’s, dishes flavoured with curry are so popular. Four of us had the curried chicken, and by all reports it was delicious…
I had the pork tenderloin, with barley pilaf…the sauce was lovely!…
Another well seasoned dish was this chicken entree:
Sorry, I don’t have photos of dessert…we all came back to our house for that, and in my busy-ness I forgot to take photos of the schmoo torte (Winnipeg specialty) and walnut squares we indulged in.
Now to the anecdote…
As I mentioned, I would run across to this building, formerly a Royal Bank, with our daily deposit, and when I say run, I mean just that!…no strolling to the intersection to cross…. One cold winter day, I looked both ways, and charged across, only to find myself enveloped in big furry arms…of a Winnipeg Policeman! At that time our Police wore buffalo coats, introduced in 1874, and worn for about a century.
Photo below courtesy of CBC:“My dear”, he said, “You can be fined for jay-walking!” I wasn’t , and thanked him for his warning, and went off with a very red face!
By the way, those coats were very warm, but weighed about 25 pounds.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Each autumn the 5 ladies in our family celebrate our birthdays together…not that our actual birthdays are the same date, but it’s just what we have decided to do.

Yesterday was the day….we picked a special restaurant for lunch….Red River College’s Culinary Institute, now located in the Union building, the former Royal Bank location. This college has turned out some very successful chefs, and the restaurant is the training center for hospitality and food preparation.

For me, the food was not the major attraction. When I was 18, I worked across the street from this building, right next door to City Hall. After 6 months with the company I was with, I was so delighted when I was offered a position in the accounting department, which incidentally became my much loved life work. Every day I would run across the street to deposit our daily cash. I loved that bank!..the ornate ceilings, the marble counters, the wrought iron cages…all of it!

So to see the renovated building as a restaurant was intriguing , and I appreciated the way the old features were incorporated.